1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved printing management method and data processing method. The present invention is more particularly related to determining whether a print job should be printed using a locked print mode or an unlocked print mode based on a distance between a client device and a printing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In environments such as an office or computer lab, computers may be connected to one or more printers shared over a network. To print a document, a computer user typically transmits a request to print the document to one of the shared printers. The shared printer prints the document, in response to the print request, and the computer user retrieves the printed document from the shared printer.
However, in such environments, it is difficult to maintain confidentiality of the printed document. For example, it is difficult to prevent other users from viewing the printed document between the time the document is printed by the printer and when the printed document is retrieved by the computer user. Accordingly, some printing devices are configured with a feature known as “locked printing,” to provide control over the printing of electronic documents.
When a printing device is configured with the locked printing feature and print data is sent to the printing device, a printed version of an electronic document reflected in the print data is not generated until a password or ID card is successfully verified at the printing device. Typically, a user enters the password which, when successfully verified, allows a printed version of the electronic document reflected in the print data to be generated.
However, in the conventional locked printing approach, an administrator sets up the locked printing feature by manually configuring the printing device through an operation panel of the printing device. Therefore, the operation of the locked printing function is typically set for all printing operations, regardless of the actual usage patterns of users.
Further, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a print job operation routine, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,438,574, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. As illustrated in FIG. 1, it is determined at step S4 whether it is necessary to attach a password to a print job. That is, there are instances where it is necessary to maintain the secrecy of job data printed in a case where a document or the like is created using application software such as a word processor or spreadsheet. If such secrecy is unnecessary, entry of a password is not required. If secrecy is necessary, on the other hand, a decision is rendered to the effect that entry of the password is required. If the answer at step S4 is “NO,” control proceeds to step S6. If the answer at step S4 is “YES,” on the other hand, a keyboard of a computer is operated to enter the password, in step S5, and control proceeds to step S6, at which time printer driver software for generating a PDL is started and printing is performed.
FIG. 2 illustrates an approach for implementing locked printing on a printing device, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,900, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. As illustrated in FIG. 2, locked printing is initiated by a user at a client device in step S10. The user specifies a user ID and password data corresponding to the locked printing. Next, print data is generated and transmitted to the printing device in steps S11 and S12, respectively. In the printing device, the print data is processed by a locked print process in step S13, and stored on the printing device if locked printing is specified in step S14. Then, the user accesses the printing device and selects the locked printing option in step S15. The user selects the user ID and enters the corresponding password data in step S16. When the password data is authenticated in step S17, a list of print data associated with the authenticated user ID/password pair is presented in step S18. The user may select one or more of the listed print data and perform an action (e.g., print or delete) in step S19.
The print job operation routine of U.S. Pat. No. 6,438,574 attaches the password to the print job based on the application software used to create the document to be printed. U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,900 discusses that the user specifies whether locked or unlocked printing should be used for each request to print the print job at the printing device. However, in either example, the user cannot conveniently switch between locked and unlocked printing and maintain the confidentiality of the printed documents. For example, in the event that the user prints a document created by application software that is not identified as requiring a password, or forgets to specify locked printing when requesting that the print job be printed, confidentiality of the printed document cannot be maintained if the user cannot retrieve the printed document in a timely manner.